Cutting Boards and Knives

photo: Eric Diesel

Other than the cook, the two hardest workers in the home kitchen are the cutting boards and the knives. I’ve lost track of how many kitchens I’ve set up both in my own households and advising or contributing to others, but the shopping list for every kitchen includes a good knife and a cutting board. I’ve touched on both topics in kitchen columns before, but here is Urban Home Blog's Guide to Knives and Cutting Boards. As always, this list comes from my years of experience as a homekeeper and lifestyle writer, and none of these is a compensated endorsement.

 
Recommending knives is tricky because they are dangerous, so first things first: every reference to kitchen cutlery includes de facto the imperative for safe handling and usage. It is essential to respect the potential for danger of every sharp edge in the household, not just the kitchen knives but those in the dining room, the blades in the blender and the kitchen prep, the craft knives in the crafts cart, the saw in the household tool box. Always handle tools and implements with sharp or cutting edges carefully, and always keep them safely out of reach from everyone who shouldn’t be handling them.

 
Choosing kitchen knives is best done with advisement but will ultimately be a matter of personal preference. The best way to choose and buy kitchen knives is in person at a restaurant supplier or quality kitchen store -- a local business if one is available, or a known retailer such as Williams-Sonoma, Sur La Table, or Macy’s Cellar. Buy kitchen cutlery in person, not online. It is essential to hold the knife and be shown how to use it. Cutlery counters are staffed by specialists who will show you a selection of knives based on what you’re looking for, will explain the differences in materials and provenance and how those affect cost, will register costly knives to ensure enhanced service, and most importantly, help you choose knives that do what you need and perform how you want within the budget you have.  

Regarding budget, some inexpensive knives are fine for all purpose usage, but really good knives are an investment. The cost needn’t be stratospheric, as while you may be shown the costliest knives, these are really only justifiable for chefs or for true kitchenphiles for whom cost isn’t a consideration to begin with. Be prepared to choose and buy knives as the investment they are, managing to budget whether that means saving to make the investment or asking friends and family who are so inclined to contribute to an item you have placed on a registry. Remember that if a sales person tries to upsell you, it is okay to direct them to stay within your budget.

However, the process of choosing and obtaining cutlery takes budget into consideration, for the first thing to do is to take cutlery sets out of consideration unless they are an exceptional value both in cost and quality. Quantity does not equal value, so take “extras” out of the equation and thoughtfully choose individual knives based on how you run your kitchen. For every knife, ask the cutlery expert to show you how to hold it both at rest and in usage, and then try it out in both of those offices. It should feel good in your hand both to the grip and by weight, and feel safe and easy to use when cutting and chopping. 

 The only costly knife most home kitchens really need is an all-purpose chef’s knife with a 6” blade in steel, carbon steel, or steel/nickel alloy, and with a bolted handle. For this all purpose knife, choose one with a straight, thin cutting edge, not a serrated edge. A knife meeting these specifications should cost between $100 - $200 and be accompanied by a performance, materials, and craft guarantee. The more the knife costs, the better both the knife’s performance and the accompanying guarantee should be - including, for significant investment pieces, a lifetime guarantee.

 
After a chef’s knife, the most useful kitchen knife is a utility knife with a 4” blade in steel/nickel alloy. Whereas the chef’s knife is the go-to for nearly everything (one of the reasons the expense is justified), a good utility knife augments the chef knife’s versatility. Choose a knife with a straight, thin cutting edge and either a bolted or solid wood handle. Because this knife sees so much usage, avoid plastic handled knives, whose blades are sunk into the plastic during manufacturing, which does not create a secure enough bond that the blade cannot ease or, worse, break out of the plastic handle. The same recommendations apply to two paring knives, 2” blade.

A quality chef’s knife, a good utility knife, and two paring knives will serve to do the bulk of the work in most home kitchens. After these, the most useful knife is a bread knife with an 8” – 10” serrated blade in steel/nickel alloy and a bolted handle in 2/3 proportion to the blade length (5” handle for 8” blade; 6” handle for 9” or 10” blade). The handle/blade ratio is important as bread knives are frequently used in a gentle sawing motion. It is important for all kitchen knife blades to be strong; for a bread knife, it should also be flexible enough to cut through crusty loaves and soft layers.

 
After the bread knife, specialty knives are a matter of individual choice or usage. In our urban kitchen, these include ceramic specialty knives including a tomato knife for fruits and vegetables with thin skin, and a citrus knife – one for the knife drawer, one for the home bar – with a thick, sharp blade coated against corrosion. Related to the citrus knife is the indispensable citrus zester. On a shopping trip to the late, great Pearl River Mart ages ago, I came across a cache of ginger knives, their thin, ultra sharp blades slipcased for safety. I trained myself to safely use them for tough ingredients like ginger, for pithing and cutting garlic, and for cutting woody herbs like rosemary. Regarding safety, it is important to get into the practice, especially when working with very sharp blades or ingredients in motion, to obtain and utilize a cut resistant kitchen glove.

 
Kitchen knives provide the opportunity to outfit a kitchen via registry, but as with the meal itself, the real payoff comes in the dining room. John and I collect wood-handled serveware, which started with a stag-horn carving set bequeathed as a family heirloom. Carving tableside allows for drama, but a carving set must be functional, with steel or steel/nickel alloy blades and slip-proof handles. Good steak knives are useful beyond steak night; use them to saw into everything from a weeknight pork chop to a fully loaded cheeseburger. A good steak knife has a sturdy blade with a serrated edge and a curved tip, and a bolted wooden handle. Steak knives are usually sold in sets of four; get one or two sets based on household usage. Like carving sets, cheese knives allow for expression of personality, but cheese knives work hard. Choose cheese knives whose handles are bolted or forged onto the blade; avoid using the cutesy ones with resin handles as these are guaranteed to break. A good cheese knife set contains a cheese spade, a mini cleaver, and two slicers: one with a sharp serrated edge and one with a curved smooth edge.

 
Caring for knives comes down to caring for the handle and caring for the blade. For all knives, learn the materials they are forged from; typically that will be steel, stainless steel, nickel, or an alloy such as steel/nickel or carbon steel. Steel rusts and inferior metals corrode, bend, and weaken, which is why knowing the composition of the blade is important. Specialty knives such as ceramic knives or barbeque tools will have care instructions included with the packaging, and should also be available on the manufacturer’s website.

 
Carefully wash knives in hot soapy water and rinse them thoroughly under a stream (not in a basin) of hot water. Assume that knives are not dishwasher safe unless the usage specifications specifically state otherwise. Safely place washed and rinsed everyday kitchen knives, blade point down, in the utensil cup of the dish drainer. Safely hand dry steel-bladed, large, or very sharp knives with a kitchen towel immediately after rinsing. Don't dry knives by running the blade along a towel while holding the towel in your hand; place the towel on the counter and safely wipe the blade across the towel. Periodically use food safe blade oil to oil steel or steel alloy knives, and periodically use food safe butcher block oil to oil the hilts of wood handled knives.

 
Regarding knife storage, store knives laid flat on felt-lined trays in a lockable knife drawer. Good knives are sold accompanied with knife guards; use them. A lockable knife drawer is safer than storing knives in a countertop block. Aside from allowing an ease of access that shouldn’t be available for knives, most blocks are wooden, which invites the deep slits to harbor bacterial and fungal growth. Have metal blades sharpened at the cutlery counter, but keep a knife stone in the knife drawer for safe use as needed.

 
All kitchen knives should be used on cutting boards. Cutting boards protect the safety and hygiene of food being prepared while allowing food to be cut correctly, protect the cutting edges of knives, and most importantly, protect the cook from knives slipping and sliding across slick counter surfaces. There are pros and cons to both wooden cutting boards and plastic cutting mats, addressed in smart kitchen management by dedicated usage.

 
For most kitchens, obtain a large and a medium wooden cutting board (often these are sold as sets), two paddle boards, and two bar boards. Dedicate the large board to raw meat and the small board to raw poultry. Dedicate one paddle board to general usage and one paddle board to fruit and small vegetables. Dedicate one bar board to small items such as herbs or citrus, and place one bar board at the home bar. Depending upon kitchen usage, augment these with an extra large wooden cutting board with a channel for carving meat and poultry, and a bread board for cutting baked goods. Obtain a set of plastic cutting mats, which are typically sold in color coded sets; make sure they are dishwasher safe. Dedicate one color to vegetables, one color to onions and garlic, and one color to seafood. Accompany the cheese knives mentioned above with a wooden (not glass) cheese board.

 
Wooden cutting boards are made from single slabs of wood or from strips of wood lathe adhered together. Single slab boards are very expensive and are nice for display as well as usage (provided they're not shellacked), but lathe or particle boards are the better investment because no matter what, you will have to replace your cutting boards regularly. Wooden boards really work best for most cooking and serving, but as they get nicked from usage, they can begin to harbor bacteriological or fungal growth, especially in deep cuts and along the outside edges. As a rule, plan to replace wooden cutting boards once a year, but sooner for any that display an off odor that cleaning does not abate. As discussed here, my way of managing this is to treat cutting boards as a pantry item. I lay in a supply of cutting boards every time I’m at Ikea, which are sturdy and earn their cost through usage before being disposed of. 

Oil wooden cutting boards with food safe butcher block oil before the first usage, blotting off excess with paper towels Oil them again after the first wash-and-dry, and then periodically after that. Wash wooden cutting boards in hot soapy water after every usage, no exceptions, and then rinse the boards under a stream (not in a basin) of hot water, no exceptions. Place the boards upright in the drying rack to drip dry, which they will do quickly with proper care. Wash plastic cutting mats in the dishwasher after every usage, no exceptions. If you don’t have a dishwasher, follow the washing instructions for wooden cutting boards.

Resources
Urban Home Blog Guide to Kitchen Tools
Urban Home Blog Guide to Kitchen Electrics
Urban Home Blog Guide to Cleaning Products